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Smalltember (Smallvember) begins with a return appearance by the Flop House's favorite (insomuch as a terrible asshole can be a favorite) Canadian energy drink magnate-turned-filmmaker, Frank D'angelo, and his latest cinematic leavings, The Joke Thief. Meanwhile, Stuart reveals his love for all things Stu, Dan gives a few minor script notes, and Elliott's Nicholas Cage has snakes on the brain. Show notes

Amy Sedaris's TruTv show "At Home with Amy Sedaris" is up for an Emmy this year for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, so we're bringing back our interview with her from 2017.

Amy's made a career playing characters - and we say this with absolutely *zero* shade intended - people who are kind of grotesque and weird- the weirder the better! There's Jerri Blank from "Strangers with Candy" - a middle-aged high school student with an overbite, weird highlights, and a penchant for mom jeans. There's also Mimi Kanasis- the crazed, kinda plastic-y, socialite on "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." On "At Home with Amy Sedaris," she pretty much plays herself. She talks with Jesse about how that's a transition out of her normal comfort zone.

Paul Reiser is, of course, a long time stand up. Alongside Helen Hunt, he starred in the hit sitcom "Mad About You." He's great in Amazon's "Red Oaks," Netflix's "Stranger Things," he was in "Whiplash," too. He's also the creator of the Hulu TV series "There's...Johnny!."

It's set in the early 70s, behind the scene of the "Tonight Show with Johnny Carson." Reiser knew Carson about as well as anybody could. He dishes on what it was like appearing on his show almost a dozen times, how the show came together, and what it was like following up a hit show like "Mad About You."

Bo Burnham: From Youtube Celebrity to Writing and Directing His First Movie

Guest host April Wolfe sits in for Jesse this week. April's a film critic and panelist on the Maximum Fun podcast "Who Shot Ya." She also hosts her own show here at MaxFun - it's called "Switchblade Sisters" where she talks with female filmmakers about movies.

First up: April sits down with Bo Burnham.

You may have come to know Bo Burnham through his latest standup act "Make Happy," which debuted on Netflix in 2016. Maybe you've seen even him act in "The Big Sick," "Parks and Recreation" or "Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous"- his show on MTV. Or maybe you knew Bo way back when, over ten years ago as one of the original YouTube hitmakers. Before Justin Bieber, before Rebecca Black, before Leave Britney Alone, Bo became internet famous back in 2006, when he set up a camera in his bedroom and started belting out songs like "My Whole Family Thinks I'm Gay" and "Welcome to YouTube."

Today, the comedian and musician can now add filmmaker to his credit. He wrote and directed the new film "Eighth Grade." It's a movie that, in a lot of ways, rejects the medium that got him famous.

The movie follows Kayla, a thirteen-year-old wrapping up her last week of middle school. She's quiet, like a lot of 13-year-olds. She's a little awkward, like a lot of 13-year-olds, too. And like pretty much every 13-year-old today, she's extremely online. She snaps, she texts, she runs a Youtube channel nobody watches.

And through Kayla, "Eighth Grade" tells us a story that's both uniquely 2018 but also totally universal - a movie about identity, school, and the human condition.

Bo talks with April about the message he hopes the movie will carry and why he thinks "Eighth Grade" is the only project he's worked on that he can enjoy watching.

Director Morgan Neville on the Timeless Lessons of the Late Fred Rogers of "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood"

Morgan Neville is a documentary filmmaker. His latest is "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" - a documentary about the late Fred Rogers - Mister Rogers.

Maybe you already heard about it - it's the documentary out now that made your mom cry. And if you go see it, you'll probably cry, too. "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" is an honest portrait of one of the kindest, most sincere people to have ever lived.

For the first decade in his career, almost all of the movies Morgan made focused on musicians - people like Iggy Pop, Muddy Waters, Johnny Cash. His breakthrough came in 2013 - with "20 Feet from Stardom." It's a touching, really human portrait of the lives of backup singers.

Since then, he's branched out. He covered William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal's televised debates in 2015's "Best of Enemies." He worked on the Netflix food series "Ugly Delicious," too.

Morgan tells Jesse about how Fred Rogers' lessons can make us better people today and also, you'll hear how Mr. Rogers made even Jesse cry!

In this week's Outshot, April talks about how frustrating it is to see a movie so good, so fully realized and to find that the director only made one in their lifetime. "Wanda," written and directed by the late Barbara Loden and released in 1971, is such a film.

"Wanda" tells the story of a simple Pennsylvania woman who drifts through life, not good at much, so she's just stopped trying. We meet her when she bums some bus fare from a friend to get to court. Her husband asked for a divorce, and Wanda... well, she can't really argue with his assessment that she's a bad wife and mother.

P-Funk's George Clinton: From Doo Wop to Funk, and Saving His Musical Career

This week, we'll revisit a couple of our favorite interviews from Bullseye past. First up, the legendary George Clinton. He's the musician, producer and mastermind of Parliament-Funkadelic. He started his career singing doo wop, later found himself writing songs for Motown, and finally wound up creating a wholly unique sound and visual experience with Parliament-Funkadelic. They made hits like "One Nation Under A Groove" and "Flashlight" and their performances were as funky as their tunes.

In recent years, Clinton has found himself entangled in a series of legal battles over the copyrights of his songs. While fighting in the courts, George found himself fighting for his health as well. The doctor of the Funk gave himself his own prognosis: if he was going to continue a musical career and regain agency in his business affairs, he had to clean up his act, and he has.

The pioneer of funk joins us this week to talk about the evolution of his sound, getting wild onstage, and putting forward momentum back into his working and personal life.

George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic are still touring and recording. You can track him down on his official website.

Cristela Alonzo is a veteran stand-up comedian, actress, writer, and producer. She's also something of a pioneer. You might remember her from the ABC sitcom Cristela, where she was the first Latina to create, write, produce, and star in her own show.

She talks to Jesse about her formative years growing up in South Texas with an undocumented parent. Hiding from police and immigration raids were daily realities in her small border town. Her family was also desperately poor--she recalls squatting in an abandoned diner.

Down the road, Cristela discovered she had a talent for weaving those tough experiences into comedy gold. That gift is on full display in her Netflix standup special, Lower Classy, as she takes on difficult topics including racial stereotypes, immigration, poverty, and parenting, all with her trademark smile and laugh. Cristela recalls the long journey that led to the special, and how being a comedian is, for her, about more than simply making people laugh.

Cristela Alonzo's stand-up special, Lower Classy, is available to stream on Netflix now. You can also hear her on Maximum Fun's new scripted podcast "Bubble," in which she plays an evil corporate executive.

Padma Lakshmi on her childhood in India, Top Chef, and her book The Encyclopedia of Herbs & Spices

Padma Lakshmi has gone through many career changes during her time in the public eye. She began her career as a model turned actress, then became a writer, and now hosts TV’s Top Chef on Bravo. She has written two cookbooks, a memoir, and now The Encyclopedia of Herbs & Spices.
Padma and Jesse talk about cultural differences she had to reckon with growing up between India and the United States, her role on Top Chef, and her new book The Encyclopedia of Herbs & Spices.

Comedian and writer Laurie Kilmartin is probably best known as one of the finalists on the 7th season of Last Comic Standing. She has also written 2 books and has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy award. When Laurie's 83 year old father was diagnosed with cancer she had to take time off from her dream job as a staff writer on Conan O’Brian’s late night show. She flew up to visit her father in Northern California as much as she could. During the months of her father's declining health, she took to Twitter writing jokes about her experience of losing a parent to cancer.

She talks to Jesse about her comedy special called 45 Jokes About My Dead Dad. She gets candid about what it’s like to lose a parent and how instrumental Twitter was in coming to grips during the process.

Errol Morris on his new Netflix "hybrid" documentary series 'Wormwood'

Errol Morris is a legendary filmmaker with dozens of tv and film credits. In 2004, his film "The Fog of War" won an Oscar for best documentary film. Perhaps Morris is best known for his unique interview style, and his invention of the interrotron, which allows his subjects to see him while they are being filmed straight on. And of course, he is known for yelling questions off screen to his subjects.

Morris has a way of painting portraits of people in his films that's incredibly vulnerable. A perfect example of this is his first documentary "Gates of Heaven" released in 1978. It’s a film about pet cemeteries, and the connection people feel to their deceased pets. The documentary told through interviews of pet owners, and it's unnarrated. Some of his films, like "The Thin Blue Line" try to find objective truth. That film ultimately helped secure a innocent man's freedom from prison.

His films are nuanced, they're funny, they're tragic, and always fascinating. His latest project is a six-part miniseries for Netflix called "Wormwood." The series explores the CIA LSD experiments in the late 1950's, and the effects on a man named Frank Olson, a CIA employee and biochemist, who inexplicably jumped out a window to his death from a New York Hotel room in 1953. The story is mostly told through interviews of Frank’s son, Eric, who's worked for years to uncover the truth. The series is kind of a departure for Errol's signature style -- it blends dramatic reenactments and real life interviews.

Errol sits down with Jesse and they discuss the nature of truth, camera angles, and his new documentary, "Wormwood."

Merrill Garbus of the band Tune-Yards on the song that changed her life -- "Moliva" by Johnny Clegg. Tune-Yards will be touring this Spring, and their new album "I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life" will be released on January 19. For more information visit their website.

Finally, for this week's Outshot: "The Commitments." Jesse tells us about a film his father and stepmother loved. Jesse never saw the film as a teenager. Few weeks ago, Jesse bought the VHS tape at a thrift store, and it turns out his dad and my stepmother had every right to love the 1991 film "The Commitments."

Judd Apatow is responsible for some of the funniest films and television shows of the past two decades. He got his start in Hollywood mostly by working behind the scenes - he was a writer on “The Larry Sanders Show,” a showrunner on “The Ben Stiller Show” and served as an executive producer on the short-lived NBC cult classic “Freaks and Geeks.”

Apatow has also produced movies like “Bridesmaids” and “Superbad,” and has written and directed plenty of features too, including, “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Funny People,” “This Is 40,” and “Knocked Up.”

One of Judd’s true passions is stand-up comedy. When he was a teenager he worked at the East Side Comedy Club in Long Island. Back then he brushed shoulders with comics like Eddie Murphy and Rosie O’Donnell. In 1992, he was featured on HBO’s “Young Comedians Special.” In it, he shares the stage with Ray Romano and Andy Kindler.

Judd Apatow’s new Netflix stand-up special is appropriately called “Judd Apatow: The Return,” it marks his return to stand-up after more than 20 years. His material is sincere and relatable just like many of his films. In the special, he reads terrible poetry he wrote as a teenage to get the crowd going, he jokes about the disastrous time he threw the first pitch for the New York Mets, and he imagines what would happened if he ever decided to smoke pot with his kids. Need we say more!

Jesse talks with Judd about the new comedy special, and why it’s important to him to consciously choose to make his projects more inclusive and diverse.

Romesh Ranganathan on how his family's immigrant history informed his comedy

You might not know Romesh Ranganathan yet, but in the UK he’s a big celebrity best known for his stand-up comedy. He’s been a regular on spin offs of “The Great British Bake Off” and “The Apprentice.”

Romesh also hosts a travel show on the BBC called “Asian Provocateur.” In it, he travels around the world reconnecting with his parents’ home country of Sri Lanka. In the second season, Romesh travels to various locations in North America to meet more of his relatives, and his mother, Shanthi, tags along for his adventure.

The highlights of the show often feature Shanthi. She will stop at nothing to chide Romesh whenever she gets a chance. It’s really funny -- dare we say his mom is funnier than him. And Romesh knows this -- his relationship with his hilarious mother often drives much of his stand-up routine.

With hopes of making it big in the states; Romesh just moved to America with his wife, kids, and of course, his mother. He has an upcoming performance at the Greek Theater on Thursday December, 21, and tickets are still available. Romesh’s new comedy special, “Irrational,” was recorded at London's Hammersmith Apollo, and is available now. He hosts a podcast called "Hip Hop Saved My Life."

Jesse talks with Romesh about his love of hip-hop, and what it's like going from crying once a month in a corporate bathroom stall to selling out concert halls in London.

Finally, for this week's Outshot: Dr. Spaceman. 30 Rock was a show with a thousand nearly perfect jokes. But there was only one most perfect joke among all those nearly perfect jokes. Jesse talks about what makes Chris Parnell’s portrayal Dr. Spaceman a very good bad doctor.

J.K. Simmons on his career, musical theater and what it’s like to be made into an action figure

J.K. Simmons never imagined he would work in film or television. In 1978, he graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in music. Many years later he put that degree to use for the Broadway musical revival of “Guys and Dolls” with his portrayal of Benny Southstreet.

His mainstream breakthrough performance didn’t occur until 1997. For six seasons, he played a neo-nazi named Vernon Schillinger on the HBO prison drama “Oz.” The groundbreaking program was the first hour-long drama produced by HBO. It was also one of the most graphic and violent shows on television at the time. In 2015, J.K. Simmons starred alongside Miles Teller in the movie “Whiplash,” directed by Damien Chazelle. His performance earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of a ruthless, sadistic jazz instructor.

He's also known for his portrayal of John Jonah Jameson, the editor of the Daily Bugle in the Spiderman. Simmons’ portrayal is bombastic, unrelentless, and one of the best sources of comic relief in that series. It’s a performance that’s not many degrees away from the rage he channeled in “Oz,” but is done with a sort of charm that only J.K. could pull off.

J.K. Simmons stars in the new drama The Bachelors. In it, Simmons plays a math teacher named Bill Palet. Bill just lost his wife, and he's trying to move past it. One day Bill wakes up, and decides it’s time for a big change. Bill and his son, Wes, move out to California where Bill takes a job at a private school. Jesse talks with J.K. Simmons about the new film, musical theater, and of course, the John Jonah Jameson action figure (with Desk Pounding Action™).

Solomon Georgio made his television debut on CONAN in 2015. Since then he has appeared on The Meltdown with Jonah & Kumail, Viceland's Flophouse and Last Call with Carson Daly. His writing credits include contributions to “Adam Ruins Everything” on TruTV and “Spongebob Squarepants” on Nickelodeon.

He’s from Seattle, via Fresno, via St. Louis, Via Sudan and then Ethiopia, where his parents are from. These days he lives in Los Angeles. Sometimes his stand-up is vulnerable and sincere, talking about childhood trauma. But then he'll strike a pose and make an outrageous joke about his perfect thigh gap and like magic - you believe him. It’s that kind of charisma that gives him a unique presence on stage.

Earlier this year he got his own half-hour Comedy Central special. On the same day he released his debut record - Homonegro Superior, one of our favorites this year. Jesse talks with Solomon about his new comedy album, what it was like to come out to his parents as gay and what it was like to come out as a stand-up comedian.

Finally, for this week's Outshot: Jesse talks about “Child of the Ghetto” by Ghetto Dependent. The record came out in 2001 via Bad Boy Records. One highlight is the track “Everyday,” which relays some of the most realistic portrayals of being broke.

Margaret Cho on Growing Up Korean American, Breaking Through in Comedy and Gay Men She Loved and Lost

[R] Whether it’s growing up as a Korean-American girl in San Francisco or breaking through the male-dominated world of stand-up comedy in the early nineties, Margaret Cho has always found a way use all of life’s experiences to create entertainment.

Cho famously co-created and starred in the first sitcom that focused on an Asian American family. "All-American Girl" was cancelled in its first season, but it became a part of American television history and helped lay the groundwork for sitcoms like "Fresh Off the Boat." Since then, Cho has continued her standup career, and appeared in numerous film and television shows including "Dr. Ken," "Family Guy," "Sex in the City" and on "30 Rock," where in separate episodes, she played North Korean dictators: Kim Jong Il and later his son Kim Jong-un.

Today, we're revisiting our conversation with Margaret Cho from last year. She sat down with Jesse to talk about beginning her career during the 90's comedy boom in San Francisco, growing up in a Korean immigrant family, and how the community around her family’s gay bookstore continues to touch and inspire her life.

Margaret Cho’s new album American Myth is now available on iTunes and on her website, MargaretCho.com. She also just launched a huge international tour of standup, called "Fresh off the Bloat." It kicked off just last week in Scotland.

Lisa Hanawalt enjoys exploring the strange ins and outs of her world using words and illustrations. She has a fondness for drawing anthropomorphized animals which often represent characters, including herself. Her work reveals a childlike wonder, even while exploring adult themes.

Her illustrations and writing have appeared in numerous print and online publications including McSweeney’s, Vanity Fair and the New York Times. In 2010, she earned the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Comic for her work on her first comic series, "I Want You."

Her work can be seen on Netflix’s "Bojack Horseman," where Hanawalt serves as production designer and producer. She can also be heard on the Maximum Fun podcast, Baby Geniuses, which she co-hosts with Emily Heller.

We spoke in 2016. In the interview, she sat down with Jesse to talk about her work on "BoJack Horseman," her latest book "Hot Dog Taste Test" and her fascination with Martha Stewart’s horse.

You probably know Greta Gerwig as an actress - she starred in Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha and a bunch of other mumblcore indies. She's also been in Oscar contenders like Jackie and 20th Century Women. Now, she's written and directed a film of her own: Lady Bird. It’s a piece of work that is grounded in reality - the reality of growing up. And no exaggeration - it's one of our favorite movies from this year.

The protagonist is named Christine McPherson, but she'd rather you call her Lady Bird. She's played by Saoirse Ronan, she lives in Sacramento and the whole movie is set in 2002. It's almost like a period piece from the Bush years. You can bet anyone with a cell phone is rocking a flip phone. Greta talks with Jesse about growing up in Sacramento and the importance of writing the phrase "hella tight" in the script of a major motion picture.

For over 20 years, Lee Unkrich has been one of the leading creative voices at Pixar. He worked on Toy Story, Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life, and a bunch more. He directed Toy Story 3, probably the darkest and most affecting of the movies in that series.

Now, he's directed Coco, the newest Disney Pixar movie. Set in Mexico, Coco is a story wrapped up in the Mexican day of the dead - Dia De Muertos. Lee Unkrich talk with Jesse about the making of Coco and lots more, especially his time working on 1993 USA classic police procedural Silk Stalkings back when Pixar was a side gig for him. What could be sexier than solving sex-related crimes on cable television in the 90's?

Finally, for this week's Outshot: E.B. White’s most eloquent words about a pig were not about Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web. Jesse talks about White's Death of a Pig, which was first published in The Atlantic in 1948.

Amy Sedaris made a career playing characters - and we say this with absolutely *zero* shade intended - people who are kind of grotesque and weird. The weirder the better. There's Jerri Blank from Strangers with Candy - a middle aged high school student with an overbite, weird highlights and a penchant for mom jeans. Or Mimi Kanasis, the crazed, kinda plastic-y socialite on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, too. But on her new show, At Home with Amy Sedaris, Amy pretty much plays herself. She talks with Jesse about how that's a transition out of her normal comfort zone.

Also discussed: rabbits (she has one), monkfish (they smell bad when their dead), and Girl Scout badges (she has them all!)

Paul Reiser is, of course, a longtime standup. Alongside Helen Hunt, he starred in the hit sitcom Mad About You. And he's been acting a lot lately, too - he's great in Amazon's Red Oaks, Stranger Things, he was in Whiplash too. He's also the creator of a brand new TV series, it's called There's Johnny and it's premiering this week on Hulu.

It's set in the early 70s, behind the scene of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Reiser knew Carson about as well as anybody could and dishes on what it was like appearing on his show almost a dozen times, how the show came together and what it was like following up a hit show like Mad About You.